Tiger Woods celebrates on the 18th green after winning
the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

TULSA  More awesome than any shot Tiger Woods hit
at Pebble Beach was the white scoreboard behind the 18th green. Next to his
name was a string of red numbers, his score under par, stretching all the way
to 12.

No one else on the board was within 15 strokes of him at
the U.S. Open.

It was unprecedented. It was shocking.

And it was only the beginning.

The gap between Woods and other players is even wider now
as he comes to Southern Hills Country Club chasing a fifth straight major championship
and the second leg of a Grand Slam that would require no asterisk.

It has not reached a point where Woods merely has to drive
up the winding road to a clubhouse overlooking Tulsa's skyline and pick up the
trophy.

"Nobody is going to give it to him," Paul Azinger said.

Then again, no one has shown much ability to take it away.

Winning a major was difficult enough before Woods came
along. Now it requires players to be at their best  and only hope Woods
is not on top of his game that week.

After Nick Price won the last major played at Southern
Hills, the 1994 PGA Championship, 14 players won the next 14 majors. Woods has
won five of the last six, leaving room only for Vijay Singh among top-10 players
to win a major over the past three years.

"It's clear that somebody has to beat him," David Duval
said.

Yes, but who?

Ernie Els, a two-time U.S. Open champion, hasn't been the
same since Woods finished eagle-birdie-birdie to beat him in Hawaii last year.
Phil Mickelson has stopped Woods twice but not in a major. His best chance came
at Augusta, only to watch one short putt after another spin around the cup.

Duval had his chances, too. His back was too sore and the
deficit too wide to beat Woods at St. Andrews last year, and his putter failed
him on the final three holes at The Masters.

The stiffest challenge to Woods in the last four majors
came from Bob May, who has never won on the PGA Tour.

The more Woods wins, the greater his confidence when the
next major rolls around.

"It's an advantage from two perspectives," Woods said.
"I've already won mine, and I've gotten that out of the way. And the second
is, I understand how to win those championships. That's probably an even bigger
deal, because you know what it takes coming down the stretch, how to control
your emotions, how to control your game, your mind, your focus, your outlook."

Indeed, Woods is playing a game familiar to no one.

Look for the best driver, the best ball-striker, the best
control, the best short game, the best putter, and the search leads to one player
who performs at one level every time he tees it up.

He comes into the 101st U.S. Open having won five of his
last six starts, including a seven-stroke victory in the Memorial where one
shot, a 2-iron from 249 yards over a pond to 6 feet, brought out the white flag
from his challengers.

It was his 20th win in his last 40 starts on the PGA Tour,
and the 11th time in 34 worldwide victories that Woods has won by at least four
shots.

Lately, he has been at his best in the majors. Woods is
65-under par in his last four majors, an outlandish number considering Jack
Nicklaus was 101-under par in his 18 major wins.

"Name anybody who isn't amazed by what he has accomplished,"
Nicklaus said. "Week after week, he just keeps continuing to do more."

The next step is an old-fashioned Grand Slam, winning all
four majors in the same year. Then there could be no debate like the one over
whether his recent clean sweep should be considered a slam.

Only four other players have won the first two majors,
Nicklaus being the last in 1972 when he won The Masters and U.S. Open.

Woods also confronted the pressure of a conventional slam
in 1997 after winning The Masters. He was only 21 and had not yet learned how
to harness his magnificent talent. He wound up 10 strokes back in a tie for
19th at Congressional.

This time, expectations are even greater, and Woods said
he thinks they should be.

"It's more realistic now because my mechanics are more
sound than they were in '97," Woods said. "I really didn't have the swing mechanics
to compete week-in and week-out. Now when I play poorly, I can somehow scrape
it around to where I might have a chance down the stretch. Back in '97, that
wasn't the case."

Southern Hills is no place to scrape it around.

This is the first classic U.S. Open venue since Congressional,
with bending, tree-lined fairways, firm, contoured greens and oppressive heat.

"There's no secret to winning the U.S. Open," Woods said.
"Hit it straight. Hit good irons. Make a lot of putts. It's really not that
complicated."

Woods doesn't have the best memories of the course, designed
in 1934 by Perry Maxwell during the Depression. It is the scene of his worst
score as a professional, an 8-over 78 in the 1996 Tour Championship when his
father was hospitalized with heart problems.

"That tournament was not important to me at all, with what
happened to my dad," he said. "It puts things in perspective real quick."

That Woods was even at Southern Hills that week speaks
to why there has never been another player like him. The Tour Championship is
for the top 30 on the money list, and Woods had only turned pro two months earlier.

"My game is a little bit better than it was then," Woods
said, trying to contain a smile.

So much has changed in those five years. The last time
Woods was at Southern Hills, he was a rookie trying to catch up with the elite
players. He returns having left them further behind than anyone could have imagined.

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